Friday, March 16, 2012

The Creative Allee

The
French call it an allée. Merriam Webster says it is a “walkway lined with
trees or small shrubs.”

I’d love to be back at this low country location
again, running the broad length of the path between tall watchful oaks as
filtered sunlight sifts through wisps of moss. An allée draws one forward toward
whatever lies beyond, usually a home.

Madeleine L‘Engle wrote in Walking on Water, her wonderful reflection on faith and art,
that “the chief difference between the Christian and the secular artist—the purpose
of the work, be it story or music or painting, is to further the coming of the
kingdom, to make us aware of our status as children of God, and to turn our
feet toward home.”

I
can see us all lined up now across the ages, all who attempt to be God's conduits for
whatever big or small talents we have, forming an allée to help the wanderer. “This
way,” we say, “run this way to home.”

So
many through their work have done this for me: of course, the writers of the Bible, and C.S.
Lewis, Madeleine L‘Engle, and a gazillion other artists, writers, and musicians.

In
whatever ways you create, think about how you may use your gifts to “further
his kingdom,” so that others may put their hearts wholly in the hands of the
Father, and find their feet firmly on the path toward home.

Take
your place in the creative allée.

“And
whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord
Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17).

“Watch for me,” my then ten-year-old sister, Tammy, said as she headed out to the basement of our childhood home to retrieve some ...

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About Bev

Beverly Varnado is an award winning novelist,screenwriter, and blogger. Her screenplay, GiveMy Love to the Chestnut Trees, has been a finalist for the Kairos Prize and is now under option with Elevating Entertainment Motion Pictures. Her novels are Home to Currahee and Give My Love to the Chestnut Trees, which placed in the top ten for Christian Writer's Guild Operation First Novel. Her blog, One Ringing Bell, is now in itsseventh year with almost seven hundred posts. Her work has been featured on World Magazine Radio, The Upper Room Magazine, and she was recently featured in Southern Distinctions Magazine as one of seventeen authors writing about Georgia.Find out more at www.BeverlyVarnado.com

Why "One Ringing Bell?"

From Ezekiel 28:33-35, "Make pomegranates of blue, purple and scarlet yarn around the hem of the robe, with gold bells between them. The gold bells and the pomegranates are to alternate around the hem of the robe. Aaron must wear it when he ministers." The pomegranates symbolize the word of God and the bells, the going forth of that word. As the sound of the bells was heard when the priest, Aaron, ministered, my desire is to ring out the word wherever and whenever possible--to be "One Ringing Bell."